Top Ten Tuesday: The Sad Books

This week The Broke and The Bookish asked for the Top Ten Books That Make You Cry. I don’t know if I’ve ever cried while reading a book, though I’ve read many sad tales. So here are my Top Ten Saddest Books, in no particular order.

1. The Time Traveler’s Wife, by: Audrey Niffenegger – I don’t know if I found this sad because I started it when I was almost nine months pregnant and finished it shortly after giving birth, but the story seemed like a sad destiny.

2. The Cleric Quintet 5: The Chaos Curse, by: R.A. Salvatore – I know most people don’t find fantasy books sad, but I was sad when I got to the end of this one. Cadderly has to give so much up for his faith and to make the world a better place. I really empathized with his wife, Danica.

3. The Dark Tower 7: The Dark Tower, by: Stephen King – Roland appears to be trapped in an endless cycle of loss. There is so much in this novel, each one hits me.

4. The Giving Tree, by: Shel Silverstein – The poor tree!

5. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, by: J.K. Rowling – Poor everybody! This is another series ender that is filled with loss. It all starts with Hedwig and it goes down from there. (I don’t feel that bad mentioning Hedwig. It happens in the first bit of the novel.)

6. A Complicated Kindness, by: Miriam Toews – Nomi’s life is so sad. What she goes through would be difficult for anyone to deal with.

7. A Thousand Splendid Suns, by: Khaled Hosseini – Poor Mariam. Mariam and Layla were an amazing pair. This story is touching in a deep and profound way.

8. The Reptile Room, by: Lemony Snicket – Another children’s story! What is it with sad tales for kids? I found this second installment in An Unfortunate Series of Events the saddest of all the books because I could feel the children’s futility in their struggle. It didn’t seem like Mr. Poe or any other adult learned from the events of the first book. I could feel the doom the whole time.

9. The Lovely Bones, by: Alice Sebold – I don’t know how anyone could read this story and not feel the sadness and loss of the whole family, not just who’s left on Earth, but Susie’s too, as she has to watch her family deal with her death.

10. 1984, by: George Orwell – Though one of my scariest books, it’s also one of the saddest. I wanted Winston to win. I wanted revolution. I wanted the Party to be destroyed!

Runners up for the list were The Handmaid’s Tale and The Good Earth. I decided I can’t keep putting The Handmaid’s Tale on my lists, even though it’s one of my favourite books. I’ve reviewed all of my top ten over the years except for The Lovely Bones. I read that ages ago, long before I started blogging.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this week’s Top Ten. What books do you find sad?

The Giving Tree

The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein is a classic children’s story that I’ve recently read to my little baby. My daughter is now 5½ months old. I read her The Giving Tree Tuesday and Wednesday before her naps. Unlike my daughter’s favourite, Goodnight Moon, this is a story I read as a child. The copy I have now is my husband’s.

It’s kind of sad. When I was younger, I remember thinking of it as sweet. I’ve read it to her twice and I feel like I’m getting emotional each time. I know it’s silly, but the tree does so much for the boy and I feel like he just takes advantage of her. I talked to my husband about it and basically he said it’s a story about unconditional love. I know I would certainly give everything of myself for my child. Yet, I feel like the boy ought to appreciate the tree. I don’t know. Maybe I’m just being silly in my sleep-deprived state… or perhaps I’ve grown cynical in adulthood.